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Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

engadget.com

121–130 of 153 posts

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#121

A premium screen with a 60hz refresh rate in 2022 is, frankly, ridiculous

Not for the intended audience. Pixel density > refresh rate outside of gaming.

Try 20hz for a bit and you might change your mind on "Pixel density > refresh rate outside of gaming".

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#122
post #87
post #18

Apple can do this because nobody else makes a high quality monitor that doesn’t look terrible. In nice offices, each chair is a couple thousand each. Full designs easily $50k+. Theyre not going to mess up a such a thoughtfully designed aesthetic with some slab of black plastic and an Amazon Basics stand (which is what I use) to save $1-2k.

https://consumer.huawei.com/en/monitors/mateview/

Sorry, not going to support a company coupled to a Communist government that blatantly steals IP and is propped up by a genocidal dictatorship. Hard pass.

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#123
post #18

Apple can do this because nobody else makes a high quality monitor that doesn’t look terrible. In nice offices, each chair is a couple thousand each. Full designs easily $50k+. Theyre not going to mess up a such a thoughtfully designed aesthetic with some slab of black plastic and an Amazon Basics stand (which is what I use) to save $1-2k.

But a $400 premium? I work in a "nice" office (with a chair and motorized standing desk that each cost several thousand) and we use nearly bezel-less 4k monitors with brushed aluminum tilt-and-raise stands that aren't made by Apple. There's a huge range between Apple and AmazonBasics industrial-design-wise now, especially when you're bidding for enterprise-level equipment contracts.

$400 is literally less than one hour of billable work in most places, negligible.

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#124

I think this works like the opposite of a loss-leader, a product sold at a loss to draw people into a store, and/or like minor upsells at restaurants, like guacamole on the side. I got this theory from the Apple Explained youtube channel when he talked about the $600 wheels for Mac Pros Apple needs some high end items to keep its luxury appeal, but they really want the middle market without losing some perceived luxu…

the studio display is the LG Ultrafine 5k displayport MST display in an aluminum shell. studio display does not use the more advanced displayport 1.4 compression in the 32" 6k xdr. Apple is effectively selling a panel that first came out in 2014 when imac 5k was introduced. You can even argue the base Studio Display is overpriced because 10th gen imac 27" 5k with the same panel plus a whole computer is 1799

Funny thing is a 10th generation iMac with the 5k panel probably costs a lot less than $1799 these days. I can't even find it to buy on Apple's site. I'd guess you can find a refurbished, or new units outside of Apple, for a lot less than what the new Studio Display costs.

While it sounds a bit crazy, it might be worth going that route too.

I've been using a 27" 5k iMac mostly as a monitor for the entire pandemic so far. It's the biggest display I can fit between the closet walls I work from. It took some fiddling to get the setup right, but what I ended up with works really well for me:

* I remote into my work machine using the built in Screen Sharing app (which is really just a VNC client)

* The remote machine is connected to the iMac over ethernet and sits on a shelf above me in the closet

* I use macFuse and sshfs so that the work machine's drives can be mounted on the iMac

I rarely, if ever, notice any image quality issues or input lag with this setup. The directly wired network connection helps with that.

Aside from the benefits of the display (which, to this day, is still the best I've ever used), you get a full computer.

That means I can have a video call going on on the work machine, CPU pegged, while the iMac compiles stuff without competing for CPU.

Given the $1599 price of the Studio Display, and used 5k iMacs near me going for about $700, it's a no brainer. I'd still go this route if I were wanting a new high resolution monitor.

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#125
post #40
post #18

Apple can do this because nobody else makes a high quality monitor that doesn’t look terrible. In nice offices, each chair is a couple thousand each. Full designs easily $50k+. Theyre not going to mess up a such a thoughtfully designed aesthetic with some slab of black plastic and an Amazon Basics stand (which is what I use) to save $1-2k.

Eizo makes fantastic high-end monitors.

Quality sure, aesthetically coherent? No

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#126
post #18

Apple can do this because nobody else makes a high quality monitor that doesn’t look terrible. In nice offices, each chair is a couple thousand each. Full designs easily $50k+. Theyre not going to mess up a such a thoughtfully designed aesthetic with some slab of black plastic and an Amazon Basics stand (which is what I use) to save $1-2k.

The chairs are probably more like $1000 after bulk discount for buying hundreds of them,and they'll last 20 years. Having worked in many corporate environments, including FAANGs that seemingly spare no expense, none of them have used these monitors. It's always a $300ish monitor for developers and I've seen some senior executives with $1000 wide screen curved monitors. Maybe a few designers somewhere get a fancy Appl…

Ya, FAANGs don’t exactly have nice offices, amenity wise sure but nobody GAF what they look like, there’s probably nerf guns and desk clutter everywhere.

Think somewhere with clients and prestige. Law offices, design shops, consulting boutiques etc.

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#127

I think this works like the opposite of a loss-leader, a product sold at a loss to draw people into a store, and/or like minor upsells at restaurants, like guacamole on the side. I got this theory from the Apple Explained youtube channel when he talked about the $600 wheels for Mac Pros Apple needs some high end items to keep its luxury appeal, but they really want the middle market without losing some perceived luxu…

the studio display is the LG Ultrafine 5k displayport MST display in an aluminum shell. studio display does not use the more advanced displayport 1.4 compression in the 32" 6k xdr. Apple is effectively selling a panel that first came out in 2014 when imac 5k was introduced. You can even argue the base Studio Display is overpriced because 10th gen imac 27" 5k with the same panel plus a whole computer is 1799

According to LG's website, the only 27" 5k display actually on sale is $1300 (and it is out of stock), and it is not adjustable, does not have a 12 Mpx camera, and does not have fancy speakers. Given how impressive the 2018 MBP speakers are, I expect the Studio Display probably sounds pretty good. $1600 seems like a reasonable price for all that.

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#128

I think this works like the opposite of a loss-leader, a product sold at a loss to draw people into a store, and/or like minor upsells at restaurants, like guacamole on the side. I got this theory from the Apple Explained youtube channel when he talked about the $600 wheels for Mac Pros Apple needs some high end items to keep its luxury appeal, but they really want the middle market without losing some perceived luxu…

the studio display is the LG Ultrafine 5k displayport MST display in an aluminum shell. studio display does not use the more advanced displayport 1.4 compression in the 32" 6k xdr. Apple is effectively selling a panel that first came out in 2014 when imac 5k was introduced. You can even argue the base Studio Display is overpriced because 10th gen imac 27" 5k with the same panel plus a whole computer is 1799

They silently discontinued the 27" imac yesterday: https://www.theverge.com/2022/3/8/22967616/apple-27-inch-ima...

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#129
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A $1600 monitor with no HDR, can you believe it? Is there a good alternative for reasonably calibrated 27" monitor, with 5K resolution, integrated (96W) USB-C hub that have camera, good speakers and HDR? How much that monitor costs?

Here's a list: https://www.displayninja.com/mini-led-monitor-list/ ASUS ProArt is a good start: https://www.asus.com/Displays-Desktops/Monitors/ProArt/ProAr... - 4K HDR, 576 zones of local dimming - 90W power - Dolby Vision, HDR-10 - Works with Mac or PC so you aren't screwed if you have a multi-platform environment, includes DisplayPort, HDMI, USB-A (4x), USB-C, headphone jack For the same price as the Studio Displa…

>ASUS ProArt

As someone who got suckered into buying two of these pieces of junk let me warn you that while the panel is decent, everything around it royally sucks.

1. The stand is horrible and tends to be very wobbly. This has been the case with three ASUS monitors I have owned over the years (two of them being ProArt)

2. Lack of supports around the screen makes it extremely fragile. Example: I carefully placed the screen face down on the table for less than 10 seconds just to wipe of the dust in the back with a cloth and when I lifted it up, the screen was cracked :/

3. The boot up time is atrocious. I have timed it:

7 seconds just to get from a black screen to the slow ASUS animation logo to appear(because you must know who made this junk every time you turn this thing on.)

Then another 23 seconds back to black until it actually initializes and displays the desktop.

4. The worst possible thing of it all: The darn thing cannot properly resume from sleep half the time. On multiple different machines(Windows + Mac), I am required to switch to another input on the convoluted rear OSD menu buttons, wait another ~20 seconds, and then switch back (another ~20 seconds).

Then like an idiot I bought another one of these monitors after the first one broke because I got an unbelievable deal on this monitor on ebay(800$ price vs $5000 list price): ASUS Proart PA32UCG. This is supposedly a direct competitor to the apple XDR display and was given great reviews by this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfkUpcF5cZw

It has all the same problems as the other Proart Displays. How can they get away with charging thousands of dollars for this thing?!

>Speakers and a good camera are not selling points for displays. A solid webcam costs $50. Professionals aren't going to rely on monitor speakers, they're gonna spend Man I really hate when people trot out nonsense like this and just dismiss things like good speakers or a built in webcam. First of all, the speakers on these ProArt displays are flat out useless. Unless you are playing OS sound effects, just forget about it. They are so underpowered and blur out the audio that you can't use it for anything else. Second of all, you now have even more junk to put on your table. With just a little bit of effort, they could have engineered a solution that is at least somewhat comparable to Apple but they couldn't even be bothered to do that even in 2022.

I will actively avoid ASUS after this experience. They still have a long way to go from their OEM manufacturing roots.

Re: Apple turns monitor height adjustment into a $400 upsell

#130
post #87
post #18

Apple can do this because nobody else makes a high quality monitor that doesn’t look terrible. In nice offices, each chair is a couple thousand each. Full designs easily $50k+. Theyre not going to mess up a such a thoughtfully designed aesthetic with some slab of black plastic and an Amazon Basics stand (which is what I use) to save $1-2k.

https://consumer.huawei.com/en/monitors/mateview/

WOW! Its really sad that outside of Apple everyone else is still producing junk in 2022. Wish this was made by some western brand. It would sell well!
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